George Bush's deficits were caused by the Democratic controlled Congress - wrong. The Dems only controlled the House in 2006 - actually they didn't take office until 2007. All the other years of W's reign of terror the Republicans controlled Congress - and, given W's appointments - the Supreme Court. So, they controlled all 3 branches.
Republicans don't want to raise the debt ceiling - wrong. If Paul Ryan's budget were to actually be enacted, it would raise the deficit by $6 trillion. So, how could Republicans pass an increase in our debt, while opposing raising the debt ceiling to accommodate this debt increase?
Republicans swore to repeal and replace the Healthcare Act. They have tried to repeal it, but where is their replacement proposal? Of course, they won't need one if Ryan's budget gets enacted. Seniors would get vouchers to replace Medicare and would have to apply to private insurance companies for coverage. Of course, the fact that Medicare recipients are older than 65 and more than likely have one or more preexisting conditions, means that many companies won't even consider them. And their costs out of pocket will go up because insurance companies have up to 20% administrative costs built into their policies (Medicare's is only 3%). Ryan's budget also assumes that healthcare costs won't continue to rise as they have for the last 20 years, so these vouchers will always be enough. And unicorns will deliver the seniors meds for them.
Bill Clinton forced banks to make risky loans to deadbeat poor people and that caused the housing bubble which burst on Bush's watch - wrong. There was no such legislation or executive order "forcing" banks to make these kinds of loans. (While the unicorns are delivering meds, let's just pretend that Slick Willie managed to create such an act. Then why didn't the Republicans - who controlled Congress and the Presidency - do something about it while they were in power?) Because such an act didn't exist - banks were encouraged to make loans to more people but only if they didn't violate their own fiscal responsibilities.
So, if poor people couldn't force the banks to make these loans, then why did the banks make such loans? And why did Wall Street bundle these toxic loans and sell them to unsuspecting investors? And why did many investment firms, like Goldman Sachs, create investments that would see large returns if these loans would fail? But, according to conservatives, the financial sector had little if anything to do with this economic disaster. It must have been public school teachers - the conservatives new villain du jour.
Yes, how dare public employees want good wages and benefits. In fact, conservatives are against almost all American workers having good wages and benefits. American workers should aspire to the below poverty wages and incredibly dangerous working conditions of China so American companies can compete. How else are executives supposed to receive their millions in salaries and bonuses if the American worker is not willing to sacrifice to make this happen. Of course, the rich are making their own sacrifices. With the continuation of tax cuts, tax rates that are half of what they were under Reagan and capital gains rates the lowest ever, these poor rich people have so much more money to handle. All those decisions about luxury cars, multiple houses, vacations in exotic places, can certainly take a lot of time and effort. But better that the middle class should cease to exist than for the rich to pay more. After all, the rich are the productive class - they create jobs - just check the unemployment rate to see how well they have succeeded using their tax breaks for the last decade.
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